Virginia School to Use Drones to Teach

Educators at the Foxcroft School take a drone workshop class. The DaVinci Challenge is a project of Kashmir World Foundation. News4's Kristin Wright reports. (Published Monday, Aug. 1, 2016)

Teachers across the D.C. area built drones to get their students excited about the possibilities of math and science.

The teachers built and operated drones as a part of the “DaVinci Challenge: Build a Drone Workshop” hosted by the Foxcroft School, an all-girls school in Middleburg, Virginia.

"There’s a tremendous amount of good that can be done with drones, and I think it’s important for the world to see that," said Dr. Maria Evans, the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Department chair at the Foxcroft School.

The program encourages the girls at Foxcroft to become engaged in STEM courses, Dr. Evans said.

"When the girls come back this fall, we’re going to be looking at missions for these drones," Dr. Evans said, "How can they use this drone technology to solve a problem? For girls, that’s where they get motivated."

Sophomore Hannah Caris came from Massachusetts with her father to attend the workshop.

"Usually it’s all guys that are interested and girls aren’t," Caris said, "so I think it’s important to change that."

The teachers will take their knowledge back to their students to get them excited about the possibilities of science, technology, engineering and math.

"This week was amazing," said Princess Aliyah Pandolfi, who created the DaVinci Challenge. "I was completely impressed with the teachers and how much they’ve learned."